There are a number of information devices, such as PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) type cards, that are configured as relatively compact computer-interfaces, and are intended to serve as industry standard interconnections between an electronic unit, such as a personal computer, and an auxiliary device, such as a communication interface (e.g. USB, Ethernet, wireless LAN/GPS antenna) modem, compact disk (CD) storage and retrieval unit, memory unit, and the like. Now although a compact information device may be configured to be readily ‘plugged in’ to a multipin socket of a device-receiving slot (e.g., card slot) of host equipment, that capability alone does not ensure that the installation will be trouble free. This is especially true where the host unit is expected to be used in an environment subject to substantial ‘hostile’ ambient influences, such as vibration, as well as moisture and foreign matter that may enter the host device through a device insertion slot.
Prior art proposals to deal with this problem have included the use of a protective sleeve designed to fit around a PCMCIA card, such as the sleeve device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,670 (the '670 Patent), or a protective seal-retaining, ‘end cap’ type of adapter, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,355 (the '355 Patent). Such an end cap adapter is configured to engage one end of the card, providing a protective seal against the external surface of the computer surrounding the PCMCIA card slot, while also supplying an electrical link between an external connector, mounted on the adapter, and the input/output receptacle of the PCMCIA card that has been inserted into engagement with an associated connector internally of the computer's PCMCIA card slot.
A shortcoming of the protective sleeve approach of the '670 Patent is the fact that it does not protect the card's input/output port—something which the protective seal end adapter disclosed in the '355 Patent is designed to do. However, although the adapter of the '355 Patent is designed to provide a protective seal around the perimeter of the computer's card slot, it is essentially an end cap with an electrical pass-through. As such, it cannot ensure that the card will properly mechanically and electrically engage a connector at the far end of the card slot. Instead, like other conventional card interfaces, proper engagement of the (PCMCIA) card depends upon the relatively limited structure of the computer's card insertion slot, which is typically designed for a desk top or lap-top type of device.